I’ve noticed that I’ve become quite handicapped by the fact that I get weakly triggered by having to interact with things that aren’t, but could plausibly be, dirty. This fear goes away once I wash my hands, but I’ve found that I’m wasting lots of time washing my hands, and that I’ve stopped e.g. gratitude journaling because I have to pick up a pen to journal, and the pen might be dirty and I’d have to wash my hands after, which hurts me because I seem to get lots out of gratitude journaling. I’ve also stopped drinking tea (which I enjoy) because, even though I clean my microwave and sink handles often enough, it’s possible that a roommate touched them with dirty hands, which means that I’d have to wash my hands after, which sounds effortful, and that knowing that having to wash my hands would require effort makes getting up to have tea much harder.
I won’t go on, but I assure you that my system 1 is making a bigger deal of this cluster of cleanliness-related things than it should.
Mostly, I’m looking for suggestions, and also mushy emotional verificatioin that, while I’m not being bad, it’s not necessary to be so paranoid.
It’s not so much the case that I have unanswered factual questions about cleanliness, with the exception that I am unsure if (say) touching a doorknob, then touching my phone, then washing my hands and touching phone again makes them dirty. I will say that my System 1 thinks that my hands are always either in a binary “dirty” or “not dirty”, which is perhaps a bit silly.
Anyhow, thank you all very much. It seems like having to interact with dirty things on a daily basis might have acted as some sort of exposure therapy, but it seems like I’ve just gotten more System 1-paranoid over time. Suggestions are quite welcome. <3
It’s not dirty—it’s static electricity for me. Worked at a place that had carpet, and I had to work with poorly grounded cameras. Got zapped EVERY SINGLE DARN TIME.
Now I tend to pull my sleeve over my hand before touching something.
… You could try wearing gloves (there’s fingerless gloves, if you get some thin ones, they can be for comfy winter use).
You could try chaining various events—e.g. “when do your hands need to be clean?” and then everything that is “eh” dirty is okay to handle for that time. So, grab the pen, do the journaling, make some tea, do this, do that, etc etc etc, then wash your hands, then start making dinner.
You don’t actually need clean hands until you start preparing food, so to say.
This is especially helpful! I think I developed the habit of washing my hands so much while working in an insufficiently safe chemistry lab, with lots of students who were less than safe.
You don’t actually need clean hands until you start preparing food, so to say.
Hearing this does provide me with some needed system 1 verification that I’m allowed to be less paranoid. I treat myself as I must have clean hands for doing anything that won’t get them dirty.
I’ve experimented with chaining various events, too, and that’s a good strategy. One thing I might try in the future is doing chains of things where I need clean hands, and sneaking in a couple things that sound like they might get my hands dirty, but actually wouldn’t, like having tea. Like a sort of exposure therapy, maybe.
Being able to cope with touching possibly-dirty things seems like a useful enough skill that fixing that problem—if it’s at all possible—would do Sithlord_Bayesian a lot more good than merely finding a way to make notes.
(SB, if you’re reading this, here is some mushy emotional verification that it’s not necessary to be so paranoid, and also that you’re not being Bad for feeling that way.)
Can’t you, at some points, try to avoid touching things directly, by using e.g. your sleeves? I do that on handles of public bathrooms. Unless you wouldn’t consider that clean, either.
I’ve noticed that I’ve become quite handicapped by the fact that I get weakly triggered by having to interact with things that aren’t, but could plausibly be, dirty. This fear goes away once I wash my hands, but I’ve found that I’m wasting lots of time washing my hands, and that I’ve stopped e.g. gratitude journaling because I have to pick up a pen to journal, and the pen might be dirty and I’d have to wash my hands after, which hurts me because I seem to get lots out of gratitude journaling. I’ve also stopped drinking tea (which I enjoy) because, even though I clean my microwave and sink handles often enough, it’s possible that a roommate touched them with dirty hands, which means that I’d have to wash my hands after, which sounds effortful, and that knowing that having to wash my hands would require effort makes getting up to have tea much harder.
I won’t go on, but I assure you that my system 1 is making a bigger deal of this cluster of cleanliness-related things than it should.
Mostly, I’m looking for suggestions, and also mushy emotional verificatioin that, while I’m not being bad, it’s not necessary to be so paranoid.
It’s not so much the case that I have unanswered factual questions about cleanliness, with the exception that I am unsure if (say) touching a doorknob, then touching my phone, then washing my hands and touching phone again makes them dirty. I will say that my System 1 thinks that my hands are always either in a binary “dirty” or “not dirty”, which is perhaps a bit silly.
Anyhow, thank you all very much. It seems like having to interact with dirty things on a daily basis might have acted as some sort of exposure therapy, but it seems like I’ve just gotten more System 1-paranoid over time. Suggestions are quite welcome. <3
I have this but different!
It’s not dirty—it’s static electricity for me. Worked at a place that had carpet, and I had to work with poorly grounded cameras. Got zapped EVERY SINGLE DARN TIME.
Now I tend to pull my sleeve over my hand before touching something.
… You could try wearing gloves (there’s fingerless gloves, if you get some thin ones, they can be for comfy winter use).
You could try chaining various events—e.g. “when do your hands need to be clean?” and then everything that is “eh” dirty is okay to handle for that time. So, grab the pen, do the journaling, make some tea, do this, do that, etc etc etc, then wash your hands, then start making dinner.
You don’t actually need clean hands until you start preparing food, so to say.
This is especially helpful! I think I developed the habit of washing my hands so much while working in an insufficiently safe chemistry lab, with lots of students who were less than safe.
Hearing this does provide me with some needed system 1 verification that I’m allowed to be less paranoid. I treat myself as I must have clean hands for doing anything that won’t get them dirty.
I’ve experimented with chaining various events, too, and that’s a good strategy. One thing I might try in the future is doing chains of things where I need clean hands, and sneaking in a couple things that sound like they might get my hands dirty, but actually wouldn’t, like having tea. Like a sort of exposure therapy, maybe.
Thanks!
You have OCD—it’s up to you to decide whether it screws up your life (=”clinically significant”) enough to go see a psych{ologist|iatrist} about it.
maybe you could dictate your notes? Though that would still require touching, for example, a phone screen.
Being able to cope with touching possibly-dirty things seems like a useful enough skill that fixing that problem—if it’s at all possible—would do Sithlord_Bayesian a lot more good than merely finding a way to make notes.
(SB, if you’re reading this, here is some mushy emotional verification that it’s not necessary to be so paranoid, and also that you’re not being Bad for feeling that way.)
Yes yes yes, you are the best LessWronger. Thanks for that, and hugs if you like. <3
Can’t you, at some points, try to avoid touching things directly, by using e.g. your sleeves? I do that on handles of public bathrooms. Unless you wouldn’t consider that clean, either.